It’s a week after San Diego Comic Con and fans are still hungry for more details about Avengers: Infinity War. A full trailer has been shown at both Comic Con and Disney’s D23, and a few leaks have been running around the internet as well. One of the highlights of this trailer is Thanos himself, but fans noticed that he is not wearing the iconic golden war armor like in previous appearances during the last MCU films. There’s an answer for that.

Thanos Artwork by Ryan Meinerding

IGN chatted with co-director Joe Russo at San Diego Comic Con and asked about the Mad Titan. He had this to say about his lack of suit:

[Thanos] has a more casual approach in this film, and it’s very philosophical for him. It’s part of his character definition. It’s a spiritual journey for him to collect the Stones, and one with which he doesn’t need armor. Once he starts acquiring the Stones, he doesn’t need armor in the same way he did when he was a war lord. It’s a very symbolic costume.

This could lead a theory that Thanos might have his suit early on in the film, but as soon as he finds one of the gems he understands that the power they contain makes his suit useless. Either way, fans are excited to see the Mad Titan in action for the first time since his reveal at the end of Avengers.

“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.”